Christmas decoration

I found the tutorial for this decoration HERE at Quietfire Design.Apologies again for the bad photos!

Supplies used: Basic Grey Fruitcake paper, Cloud Nine paper, thin olive green satin ribbon, Nestabilities Scalloped Circle dies, Stampin' Up greeting, beads and metal flower embellishment.

This makes my 3rd post today, I think that's a record for me! I may not be back posting again until after Christmas, so I wish all my blog readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Tree table decoration.

This is a quick table decoration that I found on Martha Stewart's website.

You can view the tutorial HERE . Be warned though, the instructions are not very good! It tells you to fold the circles in half 4 times, but they neglect to tell you to turn the paper over and fold it again so you get the mountain and valley folds!

I used a shiny metallic green Christina Re paper, thinner paper is easier to fold than the cardstock that is suggested in the tutorial too! You are supposed to use a cotton reel as the base, but I didn't have any so used an empty photo film container...I put a hole in the lid for the skewer to poke through, I then wrapped some red satin ribbon around it so it looked pretty! I used Fiskars templates to cut the circles.

Gift card box.

I found a pattern for a gift card box on Heather Bailey's blog HERE so thought I'd give it a go......it turned out to be quick and easy to make! The tray slides out like a match box.

Supplies used: Hero Arts owl stamp, Basic Grey Fruitcake paper, red card - Pedigree Paper, green Bazzil card for the tray part, Making Memories Christmas rub-ons, olive green satin ribbon from my stash, red Marvy Marker and Nestabilities circle/scallop dies.

Sorry about the colour, just couldn't get it right with my photo editing program!

Simply Elegant!

My DH asked if I would make a card for his boss-lady, so I thought I'd impress her with some satin and bling!
I stamped a Hero Arts greeting on Stampin' Up Purely Pomegranite cardstock using Brilliance silver ink and heat embossed it with Clear Hologram EP, then cut it using the Nestabilities Curved Rectangle die and cut a larger one in black cardstock to layer it on. I layered these onto a piece of pearl/white Christina Re designer paper, then onto a layer of black cardstock and another layer of Purely Pomegranite edged with a silver Krylon pen. The ribbon is also SU Purely Pomegranite and the ribbon slider is by Bella. Added some silver rhinestones to the black curved rectangle.

I don't usually decorate the inside of my cards, but I just added some black cardstock, a strip of the same designer paper on the front and stamped a greeting in Brilliance silver ink.

Close-up to show the dimension of the layers, and to give you a better look at the designer paper. I popped both of the curved rectangles onto dimensional dots. The finished card size is 5" x 7".

Another Naughty Penguin card

I made this one for my nephew.....I think he'll like it!

I used the Technique Junkies masked frame technique again with this card. I remembered to do it right this time! All stamps, except the snowflake are by Firecracker Designs by Pamela ('Be Naughty' stamp plate), the snowflake is from a clear stamp set- Holiday Accents by Limited Edition.

Other supplies: Watercolour pencils, Crystalline Kindy Glitz, Impress Cerulean Blue ink, Brilliance Starlite Black ink.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day!

More beautiful RAK's........and some snow!

Here are two more beautiful cards that I received this week!

The first card is from Marg, a fellow OSA group member. Her card is a beautiful origami folded Christmas tree in red and white. Marg added extra touches like the spattering of red and inked edges around the frame, she also decorated the inside of her card beautifully!

The 2nd card is from Bonnie, who is also an OSA group member. Bonnie's card is just stunning and so much more shimmery in real life! Her background is made with Tattered Angels glimmer mists and crumpled paper. I love the peacock image and the beaded decoration is a perfect embellishment!

Thank you so much Marg and Bonnie for sending me such beautiful cards....I love them both!

Have you noticed it's snowing on my blog? My lovely blogger friend Shirley showed me how to do it in this post HERE . Yes, I know it's summer here in Australia, but snow seems more Christmassy to me!

A couple of quick cards.

Both of these cards were quick to make! I used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder to make both cards, one is traditional and the other is Oriental style.

The peace stamp and kanji is by Art Neko stamps. The bauble is made with a circle of Christina Re patterned paper topped with another circle of patterned vellum, ribbon bow and metallic cord.

The bauble stamp on this card is from a Frantic Stamper plate, it's gold embossed and coloured with Twinkling H2O's. The ribbon slider is a cuttlebug die, the pink oval is a Nestabilities die, the greeting is from a Stampin' Up set. The bauble is hanging from a punched snowflake with an eyelet set in the centre of it.

Some RAK's received.

Sorry, I've been a bit of a bad blogger lately! I have been busily writing up and addressing my Christmas cards to send out.........I did make some new Oriental style Christmas cards to send out to some OSA group friends, but in my hurry to get them all mailed I forgot to take photos of them first.....duh!!

You can feast your eyes on some lovely RAK's that came my way this week though!

This 1st card is from my blogger friend Erin (AKA Fishlips) . Isn't this card just gorgeous, there are so many different layers and textures....I love the pearl buttons and the double sided stripey/spotty ribbon is divine! You can check out Erin's blog here, she makes such beautiful cards!

The next card is from my OSA friend Sandra, the design is a simple one, but her beaded star/flower is just stunning! Sandra is such a wonderful generous person, she also sent me a gift of a CD featuring Feng Shui music.

This last card is also from Sandra, she sent me this as a return RAK.......I told you she was generous! The pretty kimono is a stencilled image coloured with Pearl-Ex and she has added some stamped symbols. Sandra doesn't have a blog, but you can see her wonderful Oriental gallery HERE.

Thank you so much Erin and Sandra for brightening up my week! Just coincidentally both ladies also live in Texas, USA!

Naughty penguin!!

I was very lucky to win some blog candy from Pamela, the owner of Firecracker Designs by Pamela stamps! I won a fun stamp sheet called 'Be Naughty', along with 8 gorgeous cards which were made for Pamela's blog hop by her Design Team! How special is that?!! Of course I couldn't resist buying 2 more sheets of Pamela's stamps as well..............shh, don't tell my DH!

This is the 1st card I've made with those naughty penguins, hope you like it! I made the card 5" x 7", which is a bit larger than my usual size, but I wanted to fit all the elements in so had to use a bigger card.


I used the masked frame technique from the latest issue of the Technique Junkies Newsletter to make the frame around the penguin. I stamped the penguin twice with Brilliance Starlite Black ink - this is not your regular black ink, it's more of a dark charcoal grey with a shimmery pearlescence....really nice, but I don't think it shows up well in the photo! I cut the snowball, earmuffs and scarf from one of the images, coloured/glittered them, then layered over the top of the 2nd penguin image. The bucket of snowballs is also layered - see the photo below for a close-up of the layering.

The black cuttlebugged layer is Black Magic Core'dinations cardstock - the core is a pale blue colour, I added some Kaiser blue gemstones to the snowflake centres. The stars on the blue layer is another stamp from the 'Be Naughty' stamp sheet, I used a Cuttlebug edge embossing folder to do the scallop along the bottom.

Thanks for visiting today!

Christmas card from Vicky!

This is the 1st handmade Christmas card that I have received for the holiday season from the lovely Vicky! Vicky also took part in Sandie's 12 Days of Christmas challenges and this is one of the cards she made for it!

Thanks so much Vicky..........now to get down to sending off my cards ASAP!

Another cool blog link!

If you are a fan of Tim Holtz....and who isn't, then check out his blog!! Tim is running his 12 Tags of Christmas countdown. There's a tutorial each day........and Tim is giving away prizes each day just for leaving him a comment!!

Here's the link for Tim's blog. Day 2 is up right now!

Holiday Printables Countdown.

Lisa Vollrath at Ten Two Studios is again providing her Christmas countdown printables. Before you download her images though you must provide a link to this page on your website or blog. Lisa provides some lovely downloads - vintage photos, tags, backgrounds etc. The 1st download is available now......have fun!

The 12th day of Christmas!!

Well, here it is the last of Sandie's 12 Days of Christmas challenges!

This was an inspiration challenge, the photo is on Sandie's blog . I chose to use the snow, tree and the colours in the photo.....oh, and the word 'Peace' had to also be on the card somewhere.

I used my other new Nestabilities dies, Curved rectangles, to cut my card layers for this one. The tree stamp is from a clear Christmas set by Fiskars - stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy and clear embossed, coloured the fairy lights with a red Marvy Marker, coloured the star with a silver gel pen...highlighted the fairy lights and star with some Dimensional Magic. Sponged around the tree with white SU craft ink. Popped the tree layer on dimensional dots. Stamped 'Peace' and cut out with a circle punch, edged the circle with Crystalline Kindy Glitz and popped up on dimensional dots. Added some white organza ribbon under the tree layer.

Thanks to everyone for all your wonderful comments on my 12 days of Christmas cards and thanks Sandie for some great challenges! Make sure you all go visit Sandie's blog to see all the other challenge cards there too!

Baubles with bling!

These cards are for a challenge on the Pernickety blog - the challenge was to do a card with a Christmas decoration or bauble with lots of layering and bling!

I decided to get out my Twinkling H2O's for this one......I ended up colouring a few images while I had the Twinks out, so did 2 cards.

The one above hasn't got a lot of layering, just some faux layering that I did with my square Nestabilities and I cut and layered the bauble onto it. Added some Kaiser rhinestones to the bauble and around the top right corner of the card. The bauble and the sentiment are stamped with Versamark ink and gold embossed. The bauble stamp if from Fran the Frantic Stamper, the sentiment is a Hero Arts one.

The second card has lots more layers to it. I stamped the baubles twice and painted them with the Twinkling H2O's, then cut out the middle one from one of the images and layered it over the other baubles image, I popped it up on dimensional dots but it's a bit hard to see. (Click image for a larger view.)

I used a Nestabilities Labels 1 die to cut the image out, then layered it onto a lime green square, then onto a shimmery white paper embossed with the D'vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder. Layered this onto some gold ribbed cardstock, then onto a lime green folded card. Bit hard to see, but I edged the Cuttlebugged paper with a line of Frosted Lace Stickles.

The baubles and sentiment are again stamped with Versamark and gold embossed, then coloured with the Twinks. The baubles stamp is unbranded, the sentiment is from a Stampin' Up set. Used my oval Nesties to cut out the sentiment and the lime green layer.

Gold organza ribbon and Kaiser rhinestones added for extra bling.

Thanks for dropping by, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

The 11th day of Christmas!

It's been a such busy day today, I almost forgot to post the card from yesterday's challenge! Sandie's challenge for this one was to use scallops on a Christmas card.

I used my Fiskars Water Threading Punch to do my scalloped border. The stamp is by Stamp-It (Australian company) - I coloured the holly leaves with Tim Holtz Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and the berries with a red Marvy Marker, the edges are sponged with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink. The green patterned paper is by Basic Grey.

Only one more challenge to finish with the 12 Days of Christmas now!

The 10th day of Christmas challenge.

Sandie's challenge - use a chipboard frame....either a purchased one or handmade. Mine is cut using a Cuttlebug die.....I think it's called Concentric squares, it cuts a whole nest of squares. I painted it with metallic blue Lumiere paint.

My background paper is a torn piece of vintage music paper which included some wintery images on it. I coloured the 2 iceskaters with Tim Holtz Distress ink then went over them with a Versamark pen and embossed them with clear EP. I then gessoed the paper lightly so I could still see the images, when it was dry I sponged lightly with Tim Holtz China Blue Distress Ink. I wiped the ink and gesso from my ice skaters and placed the blue frame around them as a spotlight. Before I stuck the frame down I sewed the music paper to some textured white handmade paper (it had a snowy look to it!), and added lots of Crystalline Kindy Glitz over the stitching and highlighting the snow and the children's hats.

Added some blinged up punched snowflakes, some buttons and a stamped sentiment....I think it's a Stampington one from a clear Christmas set.....I'm too lazy to go check!

I did get the challenge for the 11th day done too, but you will have to wait until tomorrow to see it.......it's late and I'm making too many typos right now!

Thanks for dropping by and goodnight from me!

The 9th day of Christmas challenge.

Sandie's challenge was to use some wire and beads on a Christmas card.

Woo Hoo! Finally, a card with some stamping.....I even used TWO stamps! Not only that, but I had some new toys to play with too! After having them on pre-order since August I finally got my new Nestabilities......I got the Label 1 set and the Curved Rectangle set. I used the Label 1 set for this card.

I stamped the wreath with Versamark and embossed with gold EP, then coloured it with Marvy markers. I then wrapped the wire, while threading some tiny red and green beads, around the wreath. The smaller Label 1 piece is white cardstock which I sponged with Antique Linen Distress Ink - I sponged it while it was still sitting in the die, so when I popped it out of the die it still had a white embossed border - I need to practice my sponging, it turned out a bit darker than I wanted! I trimmed around the wreath and popped it up on dimensional dots.

The 'Christmas' stamp is from Stampa Rosa, the wreath is a cheapie (unbranded wood mounted stamp). The design paper is by Making Memories - Boho range- Olivia Floral Lattice.

I couldn't make up my mind how to layer the greeting, I'm not sure if I like what I ended up doing, but I put it on a metallic green strip, rounded the corners and added some red rhinestones and a red button threaded with ribbon.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

The 8th day of Christmas - Oriental baubles.

This is yesterday's challenge, I didn't get time to do it then as it was my DH's birthday, so I spent the day shopping, cleaning the house and cooking! He didn't want to go out for dinner so I invited the family over instead....we had roast pork followed by chocolate mousse cake...yummo!

Ok, on to the card, Sandie's challenge was to use fabric anywhere on a card. I used my fabric as Christmas baubles.........hey Sandie, do you recognize those "baubles"?? FYI, Sandie gave me those fabric circles to use on my Oriental cards!

Other supplies: thin ribbon, Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder,oriental joy sticker.

I'm feeling so guilty......it's yet another NO stamping card!

The 6th and 7th day of Christmas!

Just 2 quickies today for Sandie's challenges to catch up again. Similar cards and NO stamping again!

The card above is for the 6th day......the challenge was to use a star or stars on a Christmas card. My star is punched from gold cardstock. I just cut a triangle for the tree from Core'dinations cardstock and run it through my Cuttlebug in the snowflakes folder, I then lightly sanded the embossed bits to show through the core colour of the cardstock, then added a few pink rhinestones to the snowflake centres. I think it needs a greeting so I will probably add one later.......just wanted to get it finished quickly!

This is the card for the 7th day of Christmas, the challenge was to use ribbon, ric-rac or both on a Christmas card. I cut my tree from some very bright green metallic cardstock and "decorated" it with an assortment of ribbons and a piece of ric-rac. I layered the tree onto a white piece of cardstock cuttlebugged with the swiss dots folder. The greeting at the bottom is also a piece of ribbon. The green layer is stuck onto a white folded card, which is a bit hard to see.......I should have taken the photo against a coloured background so the white would stand out, but I was in too much of a hurry to finish!

The 5th day of Christmas!

A bit behind again, but this is Sandie's challenge from yesterday. The challenge was to use five gold brads on a card.......I've used four small brads and one large brad.

I used Laura's sketch 13 from the 2 sketches 4 You blog......... I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that the bonus sketch for this week was almost the same as the card I did for the 4th day of Christmas challenge a few days ago LOL..........I swear I didn't copy it though, I thought that layout up all by myself!

Sandie hasn't put up the sketch for day 6 yet, so that will have to wait for tomorrow as I'm leaving to go out with my DH for a night at the velodrome for the last night of the cycling world cup. We went last night too and really enjoyed the night - this was an early birthday pressie for my DH, it's his birthday on Monday....he is so hard to buy for, but he loves cycling so it was the perfect present...and I get to share it too LOL!

Do you notice something about this card? There's NO stamping on it at all!